Lodging & short-term rentals
Books and taxes for country inns and lodges.
Room bookings through your website and a booking site, a wedding season that carries half the year's revenue, a restaurant serving guests and locals, and acres of land that always need mowing or plowing. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September came in at $25,200. Two weddings booked the whole property, and I kept their deposits and the restaurant's dinner service on separate lines so you can see what each side of the business actually earned.
- Wedding deposit, Sept 14Event bookings
- Direct room bookingsRoom revenue
- Restaurant dinner serviceRestaurant sales
- Sysco deliveryFood and beverage cost
- Tractor and mowing fuelGrounds and land
Why your books are different
A country inn's books go wrong in the same few places.
You are running a small hotel, a restaurant, an event venue, and a piece of land all at once. A generalist sees one deposit and a pile of bills. Your business needs rooms, weddings, the kitchen, and grounds kept apart, or you cannot tell which one is carrying the year.
-
1
Wedding deposits arrive months before the event
A couple pays a deposit in January for a June wedding, then pays the balance the week of. Booked as income the day it lands, the deposit distorts whatever month it arrives in instead of the month the wedding happens.
What we doHolds event deposits separately until the event occurs, so revenue shows up in the month the work is actually done. -
2
The restaurant subsidizes rooms without anyone noticing
A restaurant that serves both guests and the public has its own food cost and staffing, and it can quietly run at a loss that room revenue covers without the numbers ever showing it plainly.
What we doKeeps restaurant revenue and food cost on their own lines so you can see if it pays for itself apart from rooms. -
3
Land and grounds upkeep swings hard by season
Mowing acres of lawn in summer and plowing in winter cost very differently, and lumped into one maintenance line, a heavy snow month looks like a crisis instead of a normal season.
What we doTracks grounds and land spending by season so a snowy month reads as expected, not alarming. -
4
A barn or event space renovation is a bigger animal than a repair
Converting a barn into an event space or adding a covered pavilion is a real investment, and filing it like routine upkeep misses how it should be written off.
What we doFlags larger construction and renovation projects the day they start so the accountant sorts them from routine repairs.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a country inn or lodge.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Room revenueDirect bookings, booking sites, and phone reservations.
- Event bookingsWeddings and private events, tracked separately from room stays.
- Restaurant salesMeals served to overnight guests and to the public.
- Gift shop or farm stand salesAny retail sold on site, when it applies.
Money out
- Food and beverage costFood distributors, bar inventory, and kitchen supplies.
- PayrollFront desk, housekeeping, kitchen, and event staff.
- Grounds and landMowing, plowing, landscaping, and general property upkeep.
- Booking and marketing feesBooking site commissions and your website's hosting and ads.
- UtilitiesHeat, electric, and water across a large property.
- Insurance and licensingProperty insurance, liquor license, and event venue coverage.
What we watch for you
- Occupancy rate
Booked room nights against rooms available, the clearest sign of a strong or slow stretch.
- Event booking pace
How far ahead weddings and events are booked, since it shapes cash flow months in advance.
- Restaurant margin
What the kitchen keeps after food cost, tracked apart from room and event revenue.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things country inn owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
I am holding it as a deposit, not revenue, until the wedding actually happens. That keeps this month's number honest and puts the income where it belongs.
Right now it is close to breaking even after food cost and staffing. I kept it on its own line so you can watch that trend instead of guessing from the total.
That is a bigger project than routine upkeep, so I am logging every cost on its own line as it happens. The accountant will look at your whole year and decide how it gets written off.
The tax side
The tax side of running a country inn or lodge.
Most of what goes wrong here is treating a hotel, a restaurant, and an event venue like one business. Each has its own timing and its own rules, and the return misses what it should catch when they are not kept apart.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Cost segregation on a larger propertyA property with a restaurant, event barn, and multiple buildings often has components that can be identified separately and written off faster, including bonus depreciation at 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Event deposits and timing of incomeA deposit paid well ahead of an event is usually recognized as income when the event happens, not when the deposit is received. Gus holds deposits separately so the timing lines up correctly.
- Contractor 1099sA landscaper, musician, or event vendor not on payroll paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost profitable inn owners can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, with limits above $201,750 taxable income single or $403,500 joint. It comes out right when rooms, restaurant, and events are tracked cleanly all year.
Deductions country inns and lodges miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Mowing and landscaping equipment
- Snow plowing and salt
- Linens and housekeeping supplies
- Restaurant food and beverage inventory
- Event tent and rental equipment
- Liquor license fees
- Wedding insurance riders
- Booking site commissions
- Uniforms for staff
- Well and septic maintenance
- Fire and safety inspections
- Marketing photography for weddings
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A country inn year, kept every month.
Wedding season, foliage weekends, and winter storms each run on their own calendar. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, contractor 1099s are ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer weddings and room bookings are running ahead of last year.
- October
Before wedding season books up
As next year's wedding inquiries come in, Gus looks at grounds equipment or renovation spending worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for country inns and lodges. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions country inn owners ask first.
How does Gus handle wedding deposits paid months in advance?
He holds them separately from regular revenue until the event actually happens, so the month a deposit lands does not get inflated and the income shows up when the work is done.
We run a restaurant along with the inn. Does that complicate the books?
No. Gus keeps restaurant sales and food cost on their own line from the start, so you can see whether the kitchen pays for itself apart from rooms.
Our land needs constant upkeep. Is that treated differently by season?
Gus tracks grounds and land spending against the season, so a heavy plowing month or a busy mowing stretch reads as normal rather than alarming in the monthly number.
We're converting a barn into an event space. How does that get written off?
That is a larger construction project, usually written off over several years rather than all at once, though some costs may qualify for faster treatment. Gus tracks it separately and the accountant sorts out the details.
Our bookkeeping has been split across three spreadsheets. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send the statements you have. Gus sorts rooms, restaurant, and events into their own lines, the accountant checks it, and most owners know where they stand inside a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
More in lodging & short-term rentals
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Bed & breakfasts
- Event venues with on-site lodging
- Farm stays
- Hostels
- Independent motels
- Mid-term rental operators (travel nurses)
- Wellness & retreat centers
- Airbnb co-hosting businesses
- Boutique hotels
- Extended stay & corporate housing
- Luxury villa rentals
- Short-term rental hosts (Airbnb / VRBO)
- Short-term rental property managers
- Vacation rental management (beach / mountain)
What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever